GLOSSARY

Group decision making is both an art and science that involves a seemingly endless number of influencing factors. Many of these factors are listed below and our extensive, current-day understanding of each is thanks to many brilliant minds that have made advancing the evidence-based body of knowledge in these regards their life’s work.

The Powernoodle platform and corresponding Facilitator training was purpose-built to make such information and best practices readily accessible to business users - often without them even realizing it. By mitigating many of the barriers to organizational decision quality (ODQ), Powernoodle clients experience a more effective and efficient decision making process and a quality decision every time.

Backcasting is a planning method which begins with imagining a successful outcome in the future, and moving backwards from the vision to the present day to understand what steps are needed to reach that successful outcome.[Source]

A psychological phenomenon (cognitive bias) whereby a person’s behaviors are driven primarily by a tendency to conform to those of a large group of others rather than by their own values, preferences, judgment, and intellect. Bandwagons can grow quickly as the more popular an idea becomes, the more people tend to rally behind it; often regardless of its actual merits.

Behavioral psychology is concerned with understanding why humans and animals behave the way they do. This is studied through observation and examining stimulus-response patterns in our actions and behaviors.

A bias is a tendency, preconceived notion, or prejudice toward or against someone or something. Biases may be favorable or unfavorable, and can be conscious (i.e., deliberate) or unconscious (i.e., involuntary).

An alternative to highly problematic ‘brainstorming’, brainwriting supports increased productivity, creativity, and quality by advocating for individuals to write their ideas on their own before getting together as a group to discuss.[Source]

Chronobiology is the study of our internal biological clocks; the inner mechanisms used to control our biological processes (including circadian rhythm) and cognitive functionality over the course of the twenty-four-hour day.

Chronotypes are used to categorize individuals based on characteristics of their biological clocks. The common distinction between chronotypes is "early birds" versus "night owls", however in reality, chronotypes are more sophisticated and complex than this, with most people falling somewhere between the two polar extremes. [Source]

Arguably one of the most important forms of diversity in most business contexts, cognitive diversity relates to having different perspectives (based on experience, personality type, etc.), different styles of information processing, and different approaches to situations involving uncertainty and complexity properly represented within decision-making processes. Within an environment that also encourages candor, cognitive diversity can result in dramatically increased levels of creativity and innovation while simultaneously reducing groupthink and blind spots that often result in overlooking both key risks and high-value opportunities.

Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information processor, and examines how we acquire, process, and store information. It is concerned with mental functions including learning, perception, memory, language, thinking, problem solving, and decision making.

“A conclusion or resolution reached after consideration.”[Source] In the context of quality decision making, it is critically important to keep in mind that decisions are distinctly different than the outcomes of those decisions.

A framework for better decisions that allows organizations to maximize value and minimize risk. Rooted in more than 300 years of decision theory, Decision Quality (DQ) is achieved by ensuring quality in six essential decision elements. [Source]

A decision record provides an objective, comprehensive, and immutable record of the inputs, activities, and actions associated with any given decision. An effective and readily-available decision record is a key underpinning of organizational learning and continuous improvement in relation to organizational decision quality (ODQ).

Somewhat of an umbrella term that refers to a number of areas of study and their corresponding bodies of knowledge. Depending on the context, this may include; Decision Analysis, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Social Psychology, Behavioral Economics, Organizational Behavior, Risk Analysis, and Game Theory alongside elements of Neuroscience and various approaches to modeling and optimization.

The inclusion of different types of people and perspectives within a group. Diversity can take many forms including demographic, ethnographic, Psychographic, and cognitive diversity. Diversity has been shown to improve areas such an innovation and problem-solving and diversity within decision making teams can have a similarly positive impact on decision quality.

An unhealthy tendency to provide more time, attention, or credence to the input of those who speak loudest, first, or most; independent of the actual merits of the message. In doing so, organizations often lose out 50% (or more) of all potential insights that could have been obtained by providing an environment where all temperaments get equal ‘airtime’ and due consideration.

Originally coined by psychologist Irving L Janis, the term groupthink refers to a theory which contends that groups tend toward uniformity and censorship in their thinking, resulting in systematic errors in collective decision making. In the decades since its introduction, it has been widely accepted as one of many (social) biases commonly exhibited among groups; particularly in cases where team members are somewhat disconnected from subject matter experts, they are relatively cohesive, have low levels of diversity, and tend to have a top-down, autocratic, or hierarchical leadership structure. [Source]

An acronym for the “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion”, this principle can refer to a specific person, a leadership style, or even a general organizational culture. HiPPOs often dominate discussion and decisions which can stifle innovation, omit much-needed dialog, and often result in widespread disengagement from others; side-effects that often goes unnoticed. Despite their toxic nature, psychology professor Richard Nisbett reminds us that “There’s no question that most business continue to operate on the Hippo principle” [Source]

Encouraging or assigning activities that are best done individually (incl. ideation, commenting, voting, rating, and prioritization) to be completed in a time, place, and manner that allows each person to contribute to their full potential based on their preferences and availability. In doing so, many biases and dysfunctional behaviors can be minimized.

“Something that follows as a result or consequence.”[Source] In the context of quality decision making, it is critically important to keep in mind that decisions are distinctly different than the outcomes of those decisions.

Leveraging the power of synchronous group collaboration to improve the quality of a collective deliverable; making the sum greater than the parts. Our Time type activities take place after individuals have had the opportunity to complete related, precursor type tasks on their own time (My Time).

Overconfidence is the tendency people have to be more confident in their own abilities (including knowledge, intuitive reasoning, judgements, and/or cognitive abilities) than is objectively reasonable.

The psychological classification of individuals based on preferences, behaviors, functions, attitudes, and the like. The Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is perhaps the most widely-used and recognized assessment but there are others such as the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. (Assessment tools such as Workplace Personality Inventory and Plum are used primarily to work styles along with role and culture fit.) The ability to effectively recognize and manage personality types can have a significant impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of all decision-making processes.

The power inherently bestowed upon the person responsible for organizing, making sense of, and recording information captured from a group collaboration session, process or activity. Relying on traditional, manual methods such as sticky notes, flip charts, verbal, and whiteboard content is extremely inefficient, and often results in transposition errors and biased interpretations that impact how group input is interpreted, recorded, and communicated. (In contrast, modern-day approaches used by skilled decision facilitators inherently provide organizations with the due confidence, trust, and quality in their decision-making through the integrity of a comprehensive and automatically-generated decision record.)

The premortem, developed by Gary Klein, is a method used to anticipate project failures before they actually occur. It is conceptually similar to a medical postmortem, however this technique involves imagining that the future project has already failed and identifying all the possible causes for this failure. [Source]

The phenomenon whereby the quality, integrity or validity of a rater or appraiser’s input is diminished as a result of being tasked with rating commitments that exceed their expected time required, actual time available, or level of interest. May apply to all forms of judgment including evaluation (ie. voting, rating, prioritizing).

Also known as Judgmental Fatigue and Survey Fatigue.

Red Teaming

The deliberate use of a group of contrarian thinkers who are specifically charged with challenging conventional wisdom. With roots in elite military units worldwide, and now in use by leading organizations such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Toyota, red teaming is both an art and science that challenges plans and the assumptions underlying those plans.[Source] Red teaming can be an extremely effective tool in combating groupthink and the status quo bias.

You know who is invited to participate in a decision process, but all ideas, comments, and evaluations are truly anonymous (even to the facilitator). By providing a safe environment where everyone can feel comfortable participating, Powernoodle enables creativity, diversity, and candor to develop high quality solutions.

Stakeholder Intelligence is the tacit knowledge needed to synthesize, evaluate, and make decisions. It draws on experience, know-how, instinct, values etc- it is the knowledge inside your people's heads.